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Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:37:42 +0100FeedCreator 1.7.2Outstanding Women in Science Seminar Serieshttp://www.sxricetmc.org/news/outstanding-women-in-science-seminar-series
<img src="http://www.sxricetmc.org/resources/Sigma Xi Partnership Outstanding Women in Science Seminar Series.png" style="width:325px;">Sun, 02 Feb 2014 02:24:32 +0100Anthropogenic Climate Change: Is Extreme Weather the New Norm?http://www.sxricetmc.org/news/anthropogenic-climate-change-is-extreme-weather-the-new-norm-
<SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Cambria', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=Cambria>The last couple of years have seen a worldwide eruption of extreme weather events:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>floods, droughts, heat waves, heavy snowstorms and hurricanes of uncommon strength in uncommon places.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>During this same period public opinion in the United States has shown a perceptible shift from denial to the acceptance of global climate change.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This shift can be observed in public opinion polls as well as heard in political rhetoric such as President Obama’s inaugural address.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </SPAN>The question emerges: “Is this new and more violent weather evidence of anthropogenic climate change?”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This talk will examine some of the science behind extreme weather events and will attempt to answer whether or not climate change is a causal factor in these events.<BR><BR>(Please see also "Additional Resources" for recent publications by Professor Sass)</FONT></SPAN>Mon, 18 Feb 2013 22:09:27 +0100Chief Justice of the US John G. Roberts Jr. ...http://www.sxricetmc.org/news/chief-justice-of-the-us-john-g-roberts-jr-is-one-of-five-speakers-for-rice’s-centennial-lecture-series
<p align="center"><u><font color="#212121" size="5">Chief Justice of the US John G. Roberts Jr. is one of five speakers for Rice's Centennial Lecture Series&nbsp;</font></u></p><p class="SubHeading" align="center"><i><font size="3">Dyson, Jackson, Koolhaas and Venter will also speak at Rice</font></i></p><p class="SubHeading" align="center"><i><font size="3"><br></font></i></p>
<p><font size="3">HOUSTON – (Aug. 9, 2012) – Chief Justice of the United States John G.
Roberts Jr. is one of five highly acclaimed leaders who will
participate in Rice University’s Centennial Lecture Series in October.
Rice is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">The series also will bring to campus international angel investor
Esther Dyson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President and physicist
Shirley Ann Jackson, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas and
human genome pioneer J. Craig Venter.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">“We are thrilled to have these extraordinary speakers come to our
campus to help celebrate our centennial,” Rice President David Leebron
said. “In information technology, genetics, energy, architecture and
design, and law, these are among the world’s leading visionary thinkers.
Our centennial is a time not only to look back, but to look as far as
we can into the future and think about how our university will
contribute to it. I am especially grateful to the faculty committee
which guided the choice of these speakers. They will surely contribute
to the exciting and energizing celebration we are anticipating for
October.”</font></p>
<p><font size="3">All five speakers will give full lectures during their visit to
campus, and four of them will also participate in an evening of short
talks Oct. 10 from 8 to 10 p.m. (Chief Justice Roberts is unable to
participate in the short talks because the Supreme Court will be in
session that week.) The lecture series will be held in Autry Court in
Tudor Fieldhouse and will be open to the public as well as the Rice
community.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Dyson will present “Traveling Behind the Scenes” from 1 to 2:15 p.m.
Oct. 11. A lifelong self-educator, she invests in and nurtures companies
engaged in information technology, private aviation and space travel,
health and other areas. A former journalist with Forbes, Dyson has
edited the computer industry newsletter Release 1.0 and written columns
for the New York Times and Huffington Post. In a New York Times op-ed,
Paul Krugman noted that Dyson predicted in 1994 “that the ease with
which digital content can be copied and disseminated would eventually
force businesses to sell the results of creative activity cheaply, or
even give it away.” Dyson considers herself a “fanatic” about
transparency; her self-description on Twitter reads, “I occupy Esther
Dyson.”</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Jackson will present “Valuing Science: Exploring Our Past, Securing
Our Future”&nbsp;from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Oct. 11. Described by Time magazine as
“perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science” and by the
National Science Board as “a national treasure,” Jackson has held senior
leadership positions in government, industry, research and academia.
She served as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under
President Bill Clinton and currently co-chairs the President’s
Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee. She was the first black
woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT in nuclear physics and the first black
woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering. She has been
president of Rensselaer, the country’s oldest technological university,
since 1999 and led its transformation with a strategic effort called the
Rensselaer Plan.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Koolhaas will speak from 10 to 11:15 a.m. Oct. 11. He is one of the
founders of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), a leading
international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism and cultural
analysis. Koolhaas worked as a journalist and script writer before
becoming an architect. A graduate of the Architectural Association in
London, he summarized the work of OMA in his 1995 book, “S,M,L,XL,” a
novel about architecture. In addition to overseeing OMA’s work in
architecture and master planning around the world, Koolhaas co-directs
AMO, OMA’s creative think tank, which gets involved with fashion,
technology, sustainability and politics. The work of Koolhaas and OMA
has received multiple international awards, including the 2000 Pritzker
Architecture Prize and the 2010 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Chief Justice Roberts’ lecture, “A Conversation with the Chief
Justice,” will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Oct. 17. He received his law
degree from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of Harvard Law
Review. Chief Justice Roberts has served as special assistant to the
attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, as associate
counsel to President Ronald Reagan and as principal deputy solicitor
general for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was appointed to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2003.
President George W. Bush nominated him as chief justice, and he took his
seat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Venter will present “From Reading to Writing the Genetic Code” from 3
to 4:15 p.m. Oct. 10. Regarded as one of the leading scientists of the
21st century, Venter was among the first to sequence the human genome.
With bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California
at San Diego, he is the founder, chairman, and president of the J. Craig
Venter Institute, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to human,
microbial, plant, synthetic and environmental genomic research and the
exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics. The institute
created the first self-replicating bacterial cell constructed entirely
with synthetic DNA. It also published the first diploid genome of an
individual, based on Venter’s own DNA, which has implications for
individualized genomic medicine.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">A faculty committee selected the speakers for the lecture series.</font></p>
<p><font size="3">“The Centennial Lecture Series Committee sought visionaries in their
fields as a way of not only honoring Rice’s history but looking ahead to
its future,” said Anthony Brandt, Shepherd School of Music associate
professor of composition and theory, who co-chaired the committee with
Susan McIntosh, professor of anthropology. “We drew on Provost George
McLendon’s three areas of focus for the university — bioscience and
health, energy and the environment, and international strategy — along
with the creative arts.”<br>
McIntosh noted that the search for speakers began in the summer of 2010
by soliciting suggestions from the Rice community. “We wanted people of
the absolutely highest caliber – speakers you would travel to hear if
you’re an alum,” she said. “Having four short talks in a row in one
evening will make this a powerhouse event that will be enormously
memorable.”</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Although the Centennial Lecture Series is free, reservations will be
required. Registration for the general public will be available Oct. 1
at centennial.rice.edu. More information on Rice University’s Centennial
Celebration (Oct. 10-14) can also be found at that <font size="3">s</font></font><font size="3">ite.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br></font></p><font size="3">http://news.rice.edu/2012/08/09/chief-justice-of-the-us-john-g-roberts-jr-is-one-of-five-speakers-for-rices-centennial-lecture-se<font size="3">r</font></font><font size="3">ies/</font>Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:13:29 +0100